


I'm Still Here

by wxnpillie



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, But is it really happy?, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Idk who yet tho, Its like a play on the red string of fate, Jae is a ghost, M/M, Other JYPE idols will probably make an appearance, Red String of Fate, Slow Burn, Sort Of, Soulmates, Spooky, What Can I Do?/I Loved You/When You Love Someone MV universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:02:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26280835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wxnpillie/pseuds/wxnpillie
Summary: Brian never thought there would be any reason why Jae would ever come back into his life, but here he is.The only problem? Jae is a ghost and Brian is the only one who can see him.or[the high school-childhood friends to strangers to lovers-soulmate-red string of fate-what can I do/I loved you/when you love someone-jaehyungparkian with a side of the sungpil we never got in the trilogy-paranormal romance au that no one (and I mean no one) asked for.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Jaehyung | Jae, Kim Wonpil/Park Sungjin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	1. All Alone

  
  


The idea of a predetermined destiny is a frustrating one. How much control do we really have over our fate? Can we really change the outcome of a situation if it was one we were always destined for?

Think about where you are right now. Think about the fact that you are even there at all. Think about how you exist in this very moment and every single choice you’ve ever made has led you up to this point. 

Some of us will have all the time in the world to waste. Some of us will never have enough. You’ll never know which one you’ll end up with until it’s already over so please don’t waste it. Your time is a gift, even if you don’t feel like it is, because if it isn’t a gift for you, your life is a gift for someone else. Don’t lose sight of that.

When Brian first met Jae, it was the perfect summer day. The sky was excruciatingly blue and the clouds were so perfectly white they looked as if someone had taken a paintbrush and placed them there intentionally. The wind was just strong enough to stop everyone from dying from the heat and it was as if the saturation filter on the world had been turned up to full. It was a nice day to meet someone. They should’ve had way more of those days than they did.

They’re both five years old. Jae doesn’t talk that much and Brian talks too much. Jae is too afraid to talk to him but Brian manages to bring out his confidence and it’s mere seconds before they’re friends. It’s the way children work. Someone is a complete stranger one second and then the next second you’re best friends.

They were inseparable for years, until Jae moved away when he was eight. By the time they met again, whatever had once existed between them was long forgotten. They would pass each other in the halls of their high school and their eyes would meet and it was like an unspoken apology to each other. 

Brian apologised for all the times he told himself that he’d talk to Jae, but just never did. They were just so different now and it always slipped his mind. He kept putting it off till the next day, 

assuming he’d always have more time. He’d get to it eventually. It just wasn’t a priority to him right now. He never knew that the days he’d have to do it would be numbered.

Jae apologised for never having the courage to say hello. He had a million chances to do it, but he didn’t. He would try and work up the nerve but he just couldn’t.

~

Brian Kang promises he’s normal. Completely normal. He could be quite weird sometimes but it was only ever to make other people laugh and occasionally embarrassing yourself for a joke wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. That is the full extent of his weirdness. 

He isn’t crazy. That’s the point here. He is very much sane.

So when the red string tied around his finger, which he was absolutely not supposed to see because no one else he knew could and he also couldn’t actually touch, which he’d only begun seeing within the last few days, led him to a tall, somewhat transparent boy about his age standing in the middle of the busy road he passed every day on his way to school, Brian was slightly confused to say the least.

Ghosts aren’t real. They just aren’t, and no amount of Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes would ever convince Brian otherwise. Every bump in the night had a rational explanation. Every whistle or scream you hear is the wind. Every creak in the floorboards was the house settling. Every object that was “pushed” off of shelves was simply gravity taking effect. It could all be explained.

So what the hell was this?

He watched in partial horror, partial mesmerisation. 

The “ _ ghost _ ” certainly didn’t look threatening, but Brian had to be careful. He had to play it safe or he risked provoking the spirit, and that could only lead to danger. 

Brian Kang, professional ghost hunter and paranormal expert (circa five seconds ago) knew all the appropriate methods to handle this situation with the utmost care and precision. He’d already formulated exactly what to do in his head because he was just  _ that  _ experienced. He decided to proceed with a few cautious choice words:

“Oi! What the hell are you doing, you lunatic?!”

_ Hell yeah _ , Brian thought to himself. He punched the air triumphantly. Totally nailed it. Another (the first) victory (not a victory at all) for world renowned (nope) paranormal expert, Brian Kang.

If there’s something strange in your neighbourhood, absolutely do not call Brian. He can barely spell neighbourhood.

All while Brian’s internal monologue was running, the pale figure had frozen to the spot and was staring straight at him. He looked absolutely terrified.

“Can you see me?”

Brian snapped out of it, looking back at the figure. Now that he could see the ghost’s face, his heart hurt when he saw who it was. 

“Huh?”

“You can!” The ghost began to make its way over to him, a smile on his face.

“Hey, woah there. Let’s back up a bit!” Brian said quickly, holding his hands up and backing away in alarm, and the figure stopped, the smile vanishing. He sort of withdrew in on himself in front of Brian’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t wanna seem like an asshole. I just- what the hell is going on?”

“If I knew, I’d tell you,” the figure- the boy- replied, a shy, bitter smile on his face. He hugged his arms close to his body, staring at the ground.

Brian looked at him for a few seconds, still trying to wrap his head around whatever the hell was happening. 

“Uh… It’s Brian, right?”

The boy asked, but he already knew. How could he not?

“Come on, dude. You know it’s me.” Brian’s reply was extremely awkward, unsure of the right brand of small talk to apply to this situation. “It’s been a long time, huh?”

“About twelve years…” the boy responded. “I mean, not really. We’ve had classes together for ages but you know what I mean.

Brian would know him anywhere. They had been as close as it was physically possible for two young children to be, until Jae Park had moved out of Brian’s life for what he assumed would be forever. They promised to stay close but that obviously didn’t happen. Kids that young can promise to stay friends forever, but it doesn’t mean it’ll work out. Life always interferes. They never saw each other again until they started high school and by then, they may as well have never been friends at all. Brian didn’t even recognise him at first and they didn’t really run in the same social circles anymore so they never really fell back into each other’s lives.

It would’ve been nice for them to be friends, but Jae never tried to talk to him and if Brian was being perfectly honest, whatever he’d felt as a kid was long gone. Feelings always die eventually and spending the majority of their lives apart was definitely enough to kill the friendship. All that was left was a dull ache in Brian’s chest whenever he looked at Jae. An ache for the loss of a huge chunk of his life. A little moment wrapped in time, left to gather dust on the shelves of his memories.

Still… despite Brian’s insistence that whatever had existed once was long dead, when he saw Jae in front of him, even if he might as well be a stranger, Brian still found himself unable to look away because… well…

“I’m so confused,” Brian said, somewhat in shock. “Are you- dead? What am I looking at? And why were you standing in the middle of the road?”

“Uh… well for the last part, I don’t really know,” Jae admitted with a nervous laugh. ”I’ve been wandering around for days. You’re the first person who’s seen me.”

Brian didn’t fail to notice how completely miserable Jae looked as he spoke. The taller boy tried to hide it with a smile, but the smile didn’t even come close to meeting his eyes.

“And for the other parts…” Jae hugged his arms close to his chest, the false smile fading away and his true emotions coming to the surface. “I don’t know what’s going on. I might be dead. I don’t remember dying, but maybe I did.”

“You don’t remember?” Jae met Brian’s eyes and gave him that broken smile again, shaking his head softly.

“Nope.” His voice was so quiet, almost a whisper, and sounded like he was either close to tears or completely numb to everything.

“One more question.” Brian didn’t wanna push him too far. He was obviously dealing with a lot right now, but he had to know. “What is this thing?”

He held up his hand, the one that the strange translucent red string was tied to. Jae’s eyes widened, as if he’d only just noticed and looked at his own hand.

“You-“ he stared at Brian in sheer disbelief. “You’re connected to it?!”

“Apparently…” was his response, not sure of what else to say. This would be an incredibly awkward conversation had it not been for the absurdity of the subject matter. “Know what it is?”

Jae shrugged again, looking painfully clueless and painfully uncomfortable.

“Sorry,” he said, suddenly shy, although the shy wasn’t so sudden. Brian got the impression Jae was always quite shy. He’d been the same way when they were kids if his memory served him well.

“For what?” Brian softened instantly. Something about Jae’s voice made his heart hurt a little. It was either their shared history which, for whatever reason, was suddenly much more vivid in Brian’s memories than it ever was before, or it was because Jae just looked so  _ sad _ , for lack of a more intense word. Everything about him in his current state completely embodied pure, raw, aching sadness.

“You’re tied to me. Literally. I’m sorry to drag you into whatever the hell I did.” Jae’s hair was long and blond and fell into his eyes and Brian had the urge to tuck it away from his face but he couldn’t. If he tried, his hand would fall right through.

“Hey.” Jae looked up at him at how gentle Brian’s voice was. He looked at the sweet smile the other boy wore on his face and if he was capable of feeling warmth anymore, he definitely would’ve. It was a metaphorical warmth. “It’s okay. I mean it. Listen…”

Brian took a few steps closer to him, breaking down whatever invisible barrier was between them. 

“I’m not really sure what’s going on here,” he continued, able to see Jae’s face much clearer now. They were maybe two feet apart now. “Or what this string thing tied to us is. I just found out ghosts are real so that’s pretty wild. But you don’t need to worry.”

He looked Jae right in the eyes and chose his next words carefully. Every part of him knew what he was about to say was the right thing to do. He could feel it in his soul.

“Park Jaehyung.”

Jae’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, perhaps not even expecting Brian to remember his last name. 

Now that Brian was so close he could see how soft Jae really was. Everything about him was soft. His features were so kind and so lonely and some deep, ancient part of Brian felt like it was his duty to do whatever he could to make him not look so lonely.

“I’m gonna help you.”


	2. What Can I Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so just in case it isn't clear:
> 
> Jieun = The really pretty girl Jae is friends with in the school trilogy, seriously shes so pretty where did jype find her
> 
> Sooah = the girl who tried to confess to dowoon and one of the people who yelled at brian at the start of what can I do for daring to speak to them ig???

  
  
  


The atmosphere was off when Brian went to school, and considering who was following him, he had a pretty good guess as to why. 

Jae stayed close behind Brian as he walked through the halls and didn’t fault to notice the way the crowds of students seemed to part for him, as if they were either disgusted or scared of him.

“Brian, why do they-” Jae began as he hurried to keep up, but he was cut off as someone in the hallway walked straight through him. Brian noticed he wasn’t keeping up and looked back just in time to see Jae pass through one of the girls in the hallway. He also didn’t fail to notice the way Jae’s expression fell into what might’ve been the most broken expression he’d ever see a human being have.

“What are you staring at?” A girl standing directly behind Jae yelled at Brian, and he completely overlooked the fact that he was the only one who knew Jae was actually there and that he’d accidentally been staring at her through Jae for the past few seconds.

Brian just rolled his eyes and ignored her and kept walking. It wasn’t as if he could say anything to Jae without drawing attention to himself so he just trusted the taller boy to follow him.

He got to his first class, which wasn’t much further down the hall and that's when it really set in. Jae was normally in this class. Now he wasn’t, and his absence was extremely evident.

Jae was pretty popular, despite how shy he was, and the hole he left in the class’ dynamic was clear as soon as they stepped foot into the class.

“Oh god,” Brian heard Jae mutter to himself.. “This is all my fault.”

“It's not at all,” Brian insisted, following Jae’s line of sight to see who he was looking at. walking over to one girl in particular that he knew Jae was staring at. “Jieun.”

The usually bright and upbeat girl looked up when Brian approached her desk and she looked the furthest thing from how normal self. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her gaze faltered when she made eye contact with him, her shiny black hair falling into his eyes.

“Uh- hey, Brian. How are you?” she asked politely but uncomfortably.

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” Brian answered, sitting down in the currently empty desk in front of her. He wanted to ask what had happened so maybe Jae would remember, but he didn’t want to put any pressure on her. She and Jae were basically inseparable. Dating rumours surrounding them were almost constant but Brian was observant enough to see that they were nothing more than good friends. “But I think I know the answer to that question.”

He paused momentarily, watching her face. Her lower lip trembled and her clasped, delicate hands shook with the effort to maintain her composure, refusing to cry in front of him. Then his eyes moved to Jae and saw the tears cascading down his pale, semi-transparent cheeks.

“J- Jieun…” he breathed, barely able to see through his tears. He tried to reach out for her but he couldn’t even touch her. Jieun shivered as Jae’s hand went through her shoulder and she looked back behind her, right through him.

“Listen,” Brian said, interrupting her thoughts, deciding to do what everyone in this classroom least expected of him and do something nice, because both of the people in front of him were barely holding it together. “I don’t exactly know what's going on, but if you ever wanted someone to talk to… I mean I know we aren’t close but I know you and Jae are so… if you need it, I’m here. Only if you want.”

Jieun sniffled slightly, and looked at Brian with a genuine smile, much closer to her normal vibrancy. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Brian gave her the softest smile he could. He wasn’t the best at expressing himself but he had always liked her. They’d spent a short amount of time together in the past and, like with everyone else, Brian had attempted to push her away, He hadn’t been the nicest to her, yet when he got into trouble at work, she defended him against his boss and proceeded to rant about what an asshole the guy was for an entire hour afterwards. He hadn’t been sure why she was helping him at the time and he still wasn’t sure but he wanted to return the favour. Plus he’d promised to help Jae and Jieun was his best friend.

He decided to leave her to her thoughts. It felt a bit awkward and he knew what someone who wanted to be left alone looked like, so he stood up and went to the back of the classroom to his regular seat by himself. Jae traipsed after him, not wanting to be apart from the only person he had right now.

Brian pulled the other seat out for Jae, not completely aware of what exactly Jae could and could not do as a ghost.

“Can you even sit down without falling through the table?” he asked Jae, trying to keep his voice down. Jae shrugged silently, looking as if any residing will to live had been sucked out of him. He sat down, and Brian breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn’t have to sit on the floor.

“Listen,” Brian whispered, leaning over next to him. “As soon as classes are done today, we can go talk about this and figure it out. Just stay with me.”

“Okay,” Jae replied in a tiny voice, leaning forwards over the desk and resting his head on his arms and closing his eyes. He looked so small. Jae was a tall guy but something about how vulnerable he was made him look tiny. Brian felt the weight of his responsibilities pulling him down. Sitting in this room, surrounded by people he recognised, people who didn’t like him but people who loved Jae. They didn’t care about him. If he had been the one to disappear, it wouldn’t feel like the classroom had been submerged in emptiness. Jae was so quiet yet the impact he’d left of people’s lives had been loud. 

“Are you talking to yourself?”

Brian’s thoughts were pulled away from Jae by the sound of a rude voice. 

For context, there was a very particular group of girls who consistently bothered him. He didn’t make things better for himself by being incredibly standoffish, but even if he hadn’t said a word to them, they’d still find a problem somewhere.

He looked over to where they were gathered around Dowoon’s desk, as they always were, even though Dowoon hadn't even shown up yet. They were just waiting for him like vultures.

“What if I am?” He fired back to Sooah, a girl he didn’t know that well but he’d gone to school with ever since he was a kid and was fixing him with a particularly piercing glare right now. “Problem?”

“You’re so weird,” she basically spat at him, the three other girls around her stabbing him with equally poisonous glares.

“Hey Sungjin!” One of their classmates, a boy named Jinyoung, called from the back of the class, interrupting the mini standoff Brian was locked in right now. Sungjin turned around to see who had called him and he greeted him with a little wave. “Where’s Wonpil?”

“He wasn’t feeling well. He’ll be in later.”

Brian didn’t fail to notice how Sungjin faltered when he said it. Wonpil was never absent. He was the kind of person to always pay attention in class and always do his assignments and homework on time. He was also never apart from Sungjin. The two may as well have been conjoined twins.

~ 

Around lunch time, Brian left class, followed by Jae of course and bumped into the boy himself.

“Brian? You mind if I ask you something?” Jae had asked seconds before, and Brian hadn’t looked where he was going as he answered.

“Yeah, sure. What’s up-” 

“Sorry, I-”

Brian was staring right at Wonpil and to be honest, he looked terrible. Maybe he actually was ill.

“I’m so sorry, Brian.” Wonpil bowed his head to Brian, as if he was scared of him, and tried to keep walking.

“Hey, wait a second.” Brian grabbed the smaller boy’s shoulder and pulled him back.

Wonpil flinched as Brian tentatively reached out to touch him.

“W- what are you-” he unintentionally held his breath as Brian placed the back of his hand against his forehead.

“Wonpil, you’re really sick,” he said but Wonpil shook his head.

“It’s fine,” he insisted. “I swear.”

“Sungjin said you were sick.”

Wonpil’s eyes widened. “Why were you talking to _him?”_

Brian gave him a confused look. “I wasn’t- listen, I just wanted to ask if you were alright. Everything that's going on- I think you and Jae were friends but I was never sure.”

Wonpil’s already sickly complexion managed to turn an even worse shade of grey and he shoved Brian out of the way and threw open the door to the disabled toilet that was just across the hall from them.

“Go after him!” Jae yelled urgently as they both overheard the sound of Wonpil throwing up from inside.

“I was going to!” he shouted back at him, hurrying into the room after him. Wonpil was hunched over the toilet, still midway through emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet.

Brian dropped his bag on the floor and knelt down beside him, glancing up at Jae, who had guilt written all over his face. 

“Its okay,” Brian said to Wonpil, his voice soft and reassuring, and he began to rub soft circles into Wonpil’s back. It was a side to Brian neither Jae nor Wonpil had ever seen, nor had anyone else for that matter. “You’re gonna be okay.”

Wonpil closed his eyes, breathing heavily and leaning his head on his arm, which was resting on the edge of the toilet. It was probably extremely unhygienic but he felt so ill he didn’t even care.

He grabbed some paper towels from near the sink and began to wipe Wonpil’s face gently when he was done, cradling his head carefully.

“Do you believe me now when I tell you you’re sick?” He asked, a playful, teasing smile on his face.

“I know.” Wonpil nodded, pulling away and hanging his head. “I can’t stay at home though.”  
  


“Wanna talk about it?” Brian offered, leaning his head back against the edge of the sink. Wonpil blinked at him with teary eyes, as if he was completely surprised.

“You don’t wanna listen to me,” Wonpil said, forcing himself to smile brightly. “It's okay.”

“You seem like you wanna talk and I guess I’m helping people who hate me now, so…” Brian trailed off, looking at Jae who had been silently watching the two of them from the doorway, hugging his knees to his chest. He sat up straight when Brian said what he said, and gave him a perplexed look.

“I don’t hate you,” Jae said at the exact same time Wonpil said the same thing.

Brian looked between the two in bemusement, laughing it off. “Yeah sure.”

“No, really I don’t,” Wonpil insisted, his wide eyes shining with sincerity, shuffling a little close to Brian as if that would prove how much he really meant what he said. “Why would I hate you?”

“Whatever.” Brian brushed over it, not wanting to pursue that topic any further. The idea of people perhaps not thinking he was the worst person alive just made him uncomfortable at this point. “So what’s up?”

Wonpil’s gaze fell to the floor. “Well… I know you know about Jae. I just… I feel like it's all my fault.”

“Why would it be your fault?” Jae asked in a tiny voice, even though Wonpil couldn’t reply.

“Can I just ask…” Brian proceeded with cautious words. “Could you tell me what happened? I know something did but I don’t know what.”

Wonpil exhaled heavily, staring at his shaking hands. “He… there was an accident. A drunk driver… no one caught the license plate…”

Jae’s face was completely blank when Brian looked up at him. He stared straight ahead at the wall like he was in shock.

“He’s in a coma right now but his chances are…” Wonpil trailed off dissolving into tears, hiding his face in his hands.

“Wait, I’m not dead?” Jae looked at Brian with wide eyes.

“He’s alive,” Brian muttered, an unconscious smile appearing on his lips. 

Wonpil looked at him in utter dismay. “Why are you smiling? He might die!”

“I thought he had already. This means there's still some hope.” Brain told him, looking over at Jae, whose eyes were locked onto him. Wonpil looked over to see what he was looking at and saw nothing. He wiped his eyes on his sleeves, sniffing slightly.

“I just feel so guilty,” he said, staring at his hands. Brian turned his attention back to Wonpil. He really was incredibly sweet. Brian had had classes with Wonpil for a while and even though they weren’t close, he had a pretty good idea of the sort of person he was and that person was nothing but fluff. A total sweetheart. Couldn’t be mean to anyone, even if he tried.

“You shouldn’t,” Brian responded, patting Wonpil’s head softly, ruffling his hair slightly. “Whatever happened had nothing to do with you, okay?”

“Thank you,” Wonpil breathed, his voice shaky. He looked beyond grateful for Brian’s words. He cleared his throat awkwardly, picking his bag up off the floor from where he’d discarded it in a hurry, trying his best to settle his nerves. “I feel a bit better.”

“Well, if you aren’t gonna go home, just take it easy, okay?” Brian said, feeling his forehead again. He was still burning up. “I’m serious, dude. You could end up in hospital if you don’t rest and what good would that do?”

Wonpil stumbled a little as he got to his feet, clutching his head. He would’ve fallen over had Brian not been there to steady him.

“I’ll take you to the nurse’s office,” Brian said and it wasn’t a request. Wonpil seemed to sense that, nodding shakily and letting Brian put an arm around his waist to hold him up, taking his bag from him and holding it in his other hand.

Brian glanced around the room. Jae was gone. He could still see the red string being pulled in whatever direction he’d run off in and sighed heavily. He’d have to help Wonpil first and then chase after him. 

“Sorry,” Wonpil slurred slightly as he spoke, suddenly very very dizzy, the days of barely any sleep suddenly catching up, leaning against Brian for support as he walked him down the corridor, past the weird looks they got from students standing around. “Ever since I found out about Jae, I haven’t been able to sleep. Guess it made me sick. Please don’t tell Sungjin.”

“Wasn’t going to, but why not just out of interest?” Brian asked. 

“I really like him and I don’t want him to be mad at me,” Wonpil mumbled more to himself than anyone else. Brian wasn’t exactly sure what he meant when he said he liked Sungjin but it was also none of his business and Wonpil wasn’t exactly in a state to control what he was saying.

“I won’t say anything,” Brian promised. “But I can’t promise he won’t find out.”

~

Brian took Wonpil to the nurse’s office like he said he would, leaving him to rest, and he was about to go and pursue Jae when he was stopped once again by Sooah.

“Did you hurt him or something?” she asked spitefully, her usual group of friends surrounding her and helping corner him. Brian gaped at her.

“Are you fucking serious?” He shot back.

“Please. You’re always fighting with someone. Dowoonie won’t be happy if he finds out you hurt his friend,” she said, smiling smugly and folding her arms.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” he growled, reaching his limits. “Wonpil felt sick so I helped him. Also Dowoon is my friend.”

Sooah laughed, turning to look at her friends who were doing the same. “Friends? As if anyone would be friends with you. You know, it’s pretty insensitive for you to be acting like this after everything that happened.”

“After everything- what the hell are you on about?” He asked, and then he realised. “Please tell me you’re not using what happened with Jae to manipulate me into feeling bad.”

She scoffed at him. “We all know you don’t care about anyone other than yourself, but maybe for once you could consider how everyone might be feeling.”

Brian scoffed, shoving past her, not in the mood for her shit today, ignoring the way she and her friends called after him. He just did his best to tune her out, focusing on the little red string tied around his finger.

~

The string led him to the library. He found Jae sitting alone on the floor near the window, staring out of it.

He sat down beside Jae, who glanced up at him, before returning his gaze to the window.

“Sorry for running away,” he said, hugging his knees to his chest.

Brian threw his bag to the ground, curling his legs under himself and sitting down next to Jae.

“Its okay,” he insisted. Jae looked over at him, watching him for a few seconds.

“I heard when Sooah was saying to you. Ran away just after that,” he confessed and Brian felt his heart drop. “Do they always treat you like that?”

Brian shrugged, becoming awkward. He’d come to help Jae with his problems, not talk about his own. “Not like it matters.”

“It does.” Jae gave him the brightest smile he could muster. It didn’t quite reach his eyes but Brian appreciated the attempt all the same. “I don’t hate you, dude. I’m not sure why you’d think that I do.”

“I just assume everyone does.” Brian wasn’t sure why he was telling Jae this but he felt oddly compelled to, like he could trust him. “Anyway. You’re alive. Pretty exciting.”

Jae smiled at the floor. “Yeah, I guess. Can't believe it though. A freaking hit and run. I wanted to have a cool death. Like murdered by pirates. Or I like fight off a gang. Or I spontaneously combust or something.” 

“Being fired directly into the sun sounds kinda fun,” Brian suggested. “Or just like… trip into a volcano. Instant evaporation.”

“Dude. Nice.” Jae properly smiled at him, holding his hand for a hi five without realising. Brian raised an amused eyebrow at him and he realised, his face falling a little. “Oh. Yeah. Right.”

“So… while we’re on the topic of hands.” Brian held up his own which had the little red string attached to it. “Any ideas?”

“No idea at all,” Jae said, shrugging. “And why can you see me? Like why you?”

“I’ll pretend to not feel offended by that,” Brian teased, pulling his phone out of his pocket and unlocking it. His thumbs hovered over the keypad, staring at the google search bar. “What in the fuck am I meant to type in here?”

He just typed the first thing he could think of.

_Why is there a red string around my finger what the actual fuck????????_

He heard Jae laugh softly from beside him as he peered over his shoulder but Brian was slightly in shock at the results that had come up. He was surprised anything had come up at all.

_“Based on the red string of fate legend,”_ he read from the first result that had popped up. _“The legend states that people are connected by a red string tied together by the gods. This thread is attached to your finger or ankle, People are all connected, destined to develop a great friendship, fall in love, or help each other in some way.”_

He turned to face Jae, his face heating up when he realised how close the other boy was to him. It was a matter of a few inches. Jae’s eyes subconsciously fell to his lips, before he cleared his throat and moved away awkwardly.

“You should- uh- that first bit. Look at up,” he stammered.

Brian gave him an amused smile. That was cute. Jae was cute when he was embarrassed. 

He searched _red string of fate_ and was met by millions of results.

“Oh shit,” he exclaimed under his breath. “The Red Thread of Fate, also referred to as the Red Thread of Marriage- what the _fuck?”_

“I don’t remember the accident, did I also forget the part where we got married?” Jae looked at Brian in bemusement. 

“I don’t think it’s as literal as that,” Brian pointed out. “But think of the tax benefits. We should honestly consider it.”

Jae rolled his eyes and snorted with laughter.

“Bro we don’t even _pay taxes._ Plus I’m pretty sure ghost-human marriage is illegal.”

“Wow, in 2017 too.” Brian shook his head in faux disappointment. “What kind of backwards, fucked up world do we live in? If I wanna marry a ghost, I should be able to.”

“Brian Kang, you did not strike me as a spectrophiliac,” Jae fired back at him jokingly. I’m learning so much about you right now.”

Brian pretended to glare at Jae, narrowing his eyes.

“I’m _not_ \- oh wait look at this.” Brian zoomed in on a paragraph of a random article he’d been mindlessly scroll through. The two boys peered at the screen, reading the text.

“Woah.” Jae let out a breathy gasp. “So we’ve always been connected with each other?”

“I guess so.” Brian looked away from his phone and made eye contact with Jae. “That must be why I’m the only one who can see you. You’re, like, stuck between life and death or something.”

It was weird. It was like the edges of Jae faded out and blurred into the white paint of the wall behind him. He was so dull that it was almost as if he was in black and white, like the colours were fading away. Brian wasn't exactly sure why he noticed that right then.

“So are we soulmates?”

It hadn’t been a question Brian had expected to leave Jae’s lips. He hadn’t really expected any of this to happen. Before today, he and Jae may as well have been strangers but now, the weird circumstances that brought them together aside, he felt oddly at ease. He’d almost forgotten about the whole ghost thing, as strange as that sounds.

He hadn’t expected the question but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been thinking about the idea too.

“I think we are,” Brian answered, taking notice of the tiny smile that appeared on Jae’s lips for the briefest second. Jae had a nice smile, he thought. He’d never taken much notice before but it was really nice. He hoped he’d be able to make that smile appear more often. “Hey, listen.”

He shuffled a tiny bit closer to Jae, feeling a little nervous about what he was about to stay,

“So, uh, I know this is probably weird for you,” he began. “But would you maybe wanna stay with me? Like at my house? I don’t want you to be by yourself so…”

Jae smiled again and it was much bigger this time. It was a sight Brian could definitely get used to.

“Thank you,” he said, and the look in his eyes was so sincere Brian actually had a hard time making eye contact. He’d never had anyone in his entire life look at him like that before.

So to summarise everything that had happened today:

  1. He found out ghosts were a thing.
  2. He finally started talking to Jae again.
  3. Jae was really nice and really easy to talk to.
  4. Jae was also a ghost. Probably should’ve led with that.
  5. One of his classmates nearly threw up on him.
  6. He found out soulmates are a thing and he has one.
  7. Jae is the soulmate.



All that and the day was only half over.

“You wanna get out of here?” Brian asked spontaneously, deciding he couldn’t stomach another second of classes today.

“Won’t you get in trouble for skipping?” Jae asked, and was answered by Brian pulling a disgusted face and shrugging. He smiled once more. Being in here was way too much for him to deal with right now and he would very much like to get as far away as physically possible. “Okay, lets go.”

Brian flashed him a grin and Jae felt his heart flutter a tiny bit as he did. “Lets go.”

**Author's Note:**

> hello so this is going to be sad so i hope you like pain. 
> 
> this is sort of based on the school trilogy but only bc i need to resolve whatever was going on with sungpil or i'll never be able to function as a human being. so its set in that universe, so other characters that are present there will be in this fic and its set at the same school.
> 
> also i did not check for typos so sorry about that
> 
> anyway, hope this was an okay first chapter and i'll try and update fairly regularly


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